LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to develop a standard contract or tariff, which may include net energy metering, for an eligible customer-generator with a renewable electrical generation facility that is a customer of a large electrical corporation, as defined.

The Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program requires a participating utility, as defined, to file with the commission an application requesting approval of a tariff to implement a program enabling ratepayers to participate directly in offsite electrical generation facilities that use eligible renewable energy resources, consistent with certain legislative findings and statements of intent. Existing law requires the commission, by July 1, 2014, to issue a decision concerning the participating utility’s application, determining whether to approve or disapprove the
application, with or without modifications, pursuant to a specified methodology.

This bill would require the commission to require each large electrical corporation to establish a tariff or tariffs that provide for bill credits for electricity generated by eligible renewable generating facilities and exported to the electrical grid to be credited to electrical accounts of nonresidential customers of the corporations. The bill would require the commission to ensure that the credit reflects credits reflect the full value of the electricity from the eligible renewable generating facilities and the credit is
credits are established using the same methodology that as is used to determined determine credits under the standard contract or tariff for eligible customer-generators.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

By requiring the commission to require large electrical corporations to establish the above-described tariff, a violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Digest Key

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

(a) California leads the nation and the world in the development of renewable energy generally and specifically solar energy, from individual rooftops to the world’s largest solar projects.

(b) Despite this, there are still many commercial, industrial, public sector, and nonprofit electric customers that are unable to install solar energy either because they lease their space or they lack available rooftop or other space.

(c) At the same time, California has an abundance of previously developed
sites like parking lots, warehouses, and brownfields that are well suited for solar development. In fact, there are approximately 70,000 acres of previously developed parcels across the state, including over 40,000 in disadvantaged communities, that could provide sites for new investments in renewable energy.

(d) A program needs to be developed that helps expand access to solar for California’s nonresidential customers that face barriers to onsite solar by allowing them to partner with developed and previously impacted sites to develop those sites with clean, local renewable energy, promoting economic development and local job growth.

SEC. 2.

Section 2827.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

2827.2.

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Benefiting account” means an electricity account, or more than one account, that satisfies both of the following:

(A) It is located in the service territory of, and the electric service is provided by, the same electrical corporation as the generation account.

(B) It is an individually metered electric electrical
account of an eligible customer.

(2) “Bill credit” means an amount of money credited to a benefiting account that is calculated based upon the applicable rate under the tariff established pursuant to this section multiplied by the quantities of electricity generated by an eligible renewable generating facility that are exported to the grid. Electricity is exported to the grid if it is generated by an eligible renewable generating facility, is not utilized onsite by the eligible renewable generating facility, and flows through the meter site and onto the electrical corporation’s distribution or transmission infrastructure.

(3) “Eligible customer” means a nonresidential customer of a large electrical corporation.

(4) “Eligible renewable generating facility” means a generation facility that meets both of the following requirements:

(A) It has a generating capacity of no more than 20 megawatts.

(B) It is an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in Section 399.12.

(5) “Generation account” means an electricity account, or more than one account, attached to a generation project that satisfies both of the following:

(A) It is located in the service territory of, and its electric service is provided by, the same electrical corporation as the benefiting account.

(B) It is sited behind the meter of
any of the following locations:

(i) A government property.

(ii) A commercial property.

(iii) A landfill.

(iv) A port.

(v) A warehouse.

(vi) A parking lot.

(vii) An industrial zone.

(viii) A brownfield site.

(ix) An area of disturbed agricultural land.

(x) A former industrial or commercial
site identified by a federal or state entity as contaminated or polluted.

(xi) A school facility, including a college, trade school, or university property.

(xii) A location sited in a disadvantaged or low-income community, as defined by the commission.

(xiii) A location sited in any area determined by the electrical corporation or the commission to have high locational value.

(6) “Large electrical corporation” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2827.

(b) (1) The commission, as part of its review pursuant to Section 2827.1, shall require each large electrical corporation to
establish a tariff or tariffs that provide for bill credits generated by an eligible renewable generating facility at a generating account to be credited to a benefiting account. account in a manner that the commission determines to be in the interest of ratepayers.

(2) The commission shall ensure both of the following:

(A) The credit reflects
credits reflect the full value of the electricity from the eligible renewable generating facility.

(B) The credit is credits are established using the same methodology used to determine credits for other customer generation under the program established pursuant to Section 2827.1.

(C) The credit does not cause shifting of costs to bundled service customers of an electrical corporation.

(c) A tariff or tariffs established pursuant to this
section shall be available for service no later than January 1, 2021.

(d) Service taken under a tariff established pursuant to this section by an individually metered account does not preclude participation by the eligible customer in other programs, so long as the credit provided pursuant to this section is not credited to more than one program.

SEC. 3.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.